Clutch Fading - on the road, away from home

[dcarver]

Crapola.

200+ miles from the house and KrZy8... dear old girl, the clutch lever is damn near touching the grip, and she's creeping forward in 1st gear at the stop light. ****. Kill switch. Find neutral. Push to road side.

In a rare moment of clarity recall that shifting over the last several weeks has not been snick-snick smooth.

Time to get back to hotel.

Wait - there's a Mac tool truck at the gas station.

He might have some tubing to keep fluid from hitting the high dollar assphalt of the high dollar hotel I'm staying in.

"No, all I have is a $40 kit' says Matt, the Mac truck tool guy.

"Follow me back to the shop, I'll set you up" says my new best friend.

I barely have enough disengagement in the clutch to make it to the Import Auto Shop he parks his Mac truck in.

"Come on" says Matt, "Follow me, we'll get you set up."

I do, and shortly I have a 14" length of 5/32 hose, a water bottle to catch the fluid in, and several shop towels to clean up the mess.

Needless to say, my next tool order is going to be with Matt, of Mac Tools in San Ramon.

Limping back to the hotel, I seem to recall that flushing the hydraulic clutch line sometimes can cause more damage than good. I know that the rubber protective boot on the master cylinder piston has been, uuuh, absent for duty some time, and my concern grows.

So I call Ray.

Basically, Ray says 'Flush It, clutch boy'...

.and I do.

and now, all is wonderful, the sun is shining bright (in the morning), I don't have to worry about a U-Haul ride or renting a motobike trailer to put the FJR on while I tow her home behind a Harley-Davidson or something even worse, a car.

In other words, life is really good!

Thanks to Ray, and especially to Matt, the San Ramon Mac tool dealer, a total stranger, helping a fellow moto-head out.

dcarver

 

[Fairlaner]

I seem to remember you fixing Tim's bike just like that for Iggy to ride at the memorial ride........i also remember how long that lasted....

R

 

[Surly]

Seems you go out of your way to make friends Don. Goodonya!

 

[Bounce]

The bellows for the master cylinder is gone and wasn't replaced?

Not good.

 

[Fred W]

My initial thought was: Why did the clutch go soft?

Next thought was: How long will this "fix" last?

When you get home it's time to dig in a little deeper, clutch boy.

 

[BikerGeek99]

How nasty was the old fluid?

Was the fluid level low?

I had a similar incident a coupla years ago that spurred me to flush my clutch and it made a huge difference similar to your experience.

 

[ahchiu]

How nasty was the old fluid?
Was the fluid level low?

I had a similar incident a coupla years ago that spurred me to flush my clutch and it made a huge difference similar to your experience.

+1, I start to notice a notchy shifting when clutch fluid is old, I now flush all clutch and brakes every year.

 

[ionbeam]

Clutch not disengaging fully = 1) air 2) master cylinder 3) clutch handle adjustment. Old fluid doesn't really effect clutch action the way that it does in a brake system where heat can boil any entrained water. Fresh fluid does keep things from rusting or oxidizing in the circuit.

 

[dcarver]

The bellows for the master cylinder is gone and wasn't replaced?
Not good.

Yes. I know. And before I removed it completely it had been torn for years. Bad dCarver, Bad...

My initial thought was: Why did the clutch go soft?
Next thought was: How long will this "fix" last?

When you get home it's time to dig in a little deeper, clutch boy.

Yep. Already have a gen 1 slave cylinder and new master cylinder piston assembly at home ready for install. Just didn't have time before I left on this trip.

How nasty was the old fluid?
Was the fluid level low?

I had a similar incident a coupla years ago that spurred me to flush my clutch and it made a huge difference similar to your experience.

Not too bad. It was last changed just over a year ago when Ray, Richard, and I swapped engines in KrZy8.

Fluid level was good, not too nasty. I have pix but am having issues getting them loaded from hotel room.

I seem to remember you fixing Tim's bike just like that for Iggy to ride at the memorial ride........i also remember how long that lasted....

R

Hey now....

..and IIRC, Steve says the shop did not replace the plates in Tim's bike.

Seems you go out of your way to make friends Don. Goodonya!

It WAS kind of fun. Dan is a great guy - Dan the Mac truck driving man!

How nasty was the old fluid?
Was the fluid level low?

I had a similar incident a coupla years ago that spurred me to flush my clutch and it made a huge difference similar to your experience.

+1, I start to notice a notchy shifting when clutch fluid is old, I now flush all clutch and brakes every year.

Yep. Me too. Imagine how many times that piston in the master cylinder has cycled over 7 years and 150k miles? It owes me nothing this point.

Clutch not disengaging fully = 1) air 2) master cylinder 3) clutch handle adjustment. Old fluid doesn't really effect clutch action the way that it does in a brake system where heat can boil any entrained water. Fresh fluid does keep things from rusting or oxidizing in the circuit.

Agree. Clutch handle adjustment set for max throw.. It's been slowly creeping back toward the bar for a couple of weeks.

I'm outta the hotel in a few.. Guess we'll find out soon if the fix fixed it.

 

[Neil San Diego]

Don't know if this could be part of the problem, but the clutch lever bushing seems to go south on alot of bikes: https://www.fjrforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=129707

 

[dcarver]

So far so good!

Yeah, I have a new bushing back at the house too..

 

[RadioHowie]

 

[dcarver]

Ah, Howie DOES :wub: me!

Almost home https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=6d7c51abaa75be0a6

Check out the road Howie, it has CURVES!

 

[Surly]

Don't know if this could be part of the problem, but the clutch lever bushing seems to go south on alot of bikes: https://www.fjrforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=129707

This forum has so much information.

Ah, Howie DOES

me!
Almost home https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=6d7c51abaa75be0a6

Check out the road Howie, it has CURVES!

Get home safe Don.

 

[dcarver]

Follow up -

Replaced slave cyl with gen 1 type, flushed and purged using new Dot4, installed dust boot on master cyl piston, all is wonderful. Lot's of engagement travel, positive feel, the snick-snick shifting is back.

Did not replace mc cylinder.

 

[RadioHowie]

Go on ya, DC!!!

Now, go break somethin' else we can talk about.